The Vanishing Beauty - Chapter 1 - 1
Chapter 1 - 1
Jiangnan produces beauties, but this place cannot be considered authentic Jiangnan.
However, this awkward geographical position does not prevent Yuyingzi from producing gorgeous women. For many years, this palm-sized patch of land has been a renowned sanctuary for suitors from all walks of life.
The women here are genuinely stunning.
Positioned at the crossroads of the North and South, they possess both the gentle grace of southern women and the resilient strength of northern women—a flawless integration of both firmness and flexibility. Some say that out of China's Four Great Beauties, at least one originated from Yuyingzi. After repeated textual research by local residents, the most credible theory is that Diaochan's surname was Yu. Historical experts reject this assertion, arguing that it lacks any evidentiary support, is a case of misinformation spreading, and amounts to people gilding their own faces. But the locals don't care about what the experts have to say; whenever the experts dismiss them, they curse the experts: Bah! What kind of experts! A bunch of freeloaders who can't spit out anything ivory from a dog's mouth! Farting all day long!
Fortunately, facts speak louder than words. The women here live up to expectations, and generation after generation, the girls of Yuyingzi remain as gorgeous as ever. Moreover, in recent generations, the women of the Yu clan have been especially aligned with contemporary aesthetics: pointed chins, large eyes, high brow ridges with a hint of Western Regions exoticism, fair skin, yet following the classic path of a Jiangnan jade maiden. Truly, they are a creation of heaven and earth, imbued with the finest spiritual essence.
However, the women of Yuying have nothing to do with internet celebrities. Their faces are invariably supported by strong bone structures, meaning that even as they accumulate some age, they remain beauties—after all, a woman's true beauty lies in her bones, not her skin.
Although the girls of Yuyingzi are beautiful, they have not lost their harmony through competition; on the contrary, they are exceptionally united and advance or retreat together. Right now, those striving in the big cities are especially of one mind, sharing a common glory. Just like at this moment, Yu Jia, the "big sister" figure of Yuyingzi, has come to this major metropolis with her husband. Her fellow clanswomen Yu Meng, Yu Shuang, and Yu Rui immediately threw a lavish banquet to welcome her.
Meng, Shuang, and Rui, who were already living in the metropolis, were genuinely happy for Sister Jia. Back in Yuying, they were playfully nicknamed the Four Beauties: Sinking Fish, Descending Geese, Closing Moon, and Frightening Flowers. Jia was Sinking Fish, Meng was Descending Geese, Shuang could Close the Moon, and Rui could Frighten Flowers. They were all gorgeous young women. Everyone around them watched and believed from the bottom of their hearts that to possess such beauty and not go out into the vast world to fight, risking everything to turn things upside down, would be an absolute waste of heavenly gifts.
Regrettably, after all these years, the Four Beauties had never managed to fully gather.
Three were present, but one was missing.
Yu Jia got married right after graduating from university. Her husband, Di Liren, was a college classmate. When she married him, he was merely a low-ranking civil servant serving as a village official in a remote area. Everyone felt it was a pity for Yu Jia. Yu's father was even furious enough to threaten to sever ties with his daughter. Lacking ambition, a fresh flower stuck in cow dung, a girl too stubborn to be taught, an absolute mess! In fact, right up until Yu Jia tied the knot, the Yu family was still thinking of ways to break up the marriage. Yet Yu Jia's feelings were as firm as gold; once she set her mind on Liren, it was impossible to change. The only fly in the ointment was that the couple couldn't conceive for a long time at first, making the Yu family unhappy as well. A few years later, when Liren was promoted to the provincial level, Yu Jia finally gave birth to a girl. With the raw rice already cooked into a bed of rice and the dust settled, the Yu family saw that Liren had a bright future ahead of him and abruptly began to praise the marriage instead. Yu Jia settled into an administrative position at a vocational school, prioritizing family over career, content to support her husband, raise their child, and enjoy a leisurely life in a small city.
Yu Meng started out as a nurse. While interning at a large hospital before graduation, she met a fracture patient—her current husband, Luan Chengyun. When she married him, his career was just taking off, and he was considered "moderately wealthy." Over the past decade, she has given birth to two sons, while Luan Chengyun leveraged her so-called "husband-aiding luck" to rake in a substantial fortune. They own several properties in the big city and are considered part of the "middle class," with Yu family relatives occasionally coming over to bask in Yu Meng's reflected glory. This marriage has been quite satisfactory.
Yu Shuang is also beautiful, but she is beautiful without realizing it herself. Over time, it felt a bit like a bright pearl covered in dust. After graduating from a prestigious university, she first entered the state system before transitioning to a trendy major corporation. She works in online education, swearing to crush a certain Oriental competitor. She has the ability to back it up; within a few years of entering the industry, her position skyrocketed, making her the youngest middle manager in the company. Parents of students like to use Yu Shuang as a role model to motivate their children, saying, "You should learn more from Teacher Shuang! There isn't a single problem she can't solve!" Yu Shuang is independent, self-reliant, and earns her own keep. She owns her own apartment, which she managed to buy right before the real estate market skyrocketed. She had good luck: her first job was within the state system, and she happened to catch an employer housing allocation. Back then, housing prices hadn't spiked yet, and while everyone else wanted the small units, leaving behind a large suite nobody wanted, Yu Shuang had no other choice and gritted her teeth to take it. Who could have imagined that fortune favors the bold, and that this three-bedroom apartment would unexpectedly become her first pot of gold in life and the cornerstone of her foothold in the big city.
Yu Shuang has dated several boyfriends, all met through blind dates, but they were all insipid and quickly fizzled out. The men couldn't cater to her, and she couldn't be bothered to cater to men. In her own words, she doesn't like begging men; if she can make it on her own, then she'll rely on herself. At first, her family worried about her—how could a young woman manage alone out there? She had to get married; otherwise, it wouldn't do. But after she turned thirty, seeing Yu Shuang earn more and more money, the family reaped the practical benefits. Yu Shuang's mother even moved in with her daughter to start living the life of a big-city resident.
Among the four beauties, Yu Rui is the youngest, but she is the prettiest. She is different from Yu Shuang. She knew her advantages very early on: romance was an absolute must. She believed that studying and romance complement each other, and she fought hard to earn a degree merely as a stepping stone to access high-end social circles. After graduating from the acting department, Yu Rui drifted in the big city for a few years, where she came to realize a brutal truth: for a girl with no money and no background like her, wanting to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry is harder than ascending to heaven.
Her looks make her well-suited to play leading dramatic heroines, but she lacks the star power for such roles. Lacking the patience to wait, she has no choice but to invest her efforts into romantic relationships. Her ideal is to get married, or at the very least, to date someone wealthy or powerful. When Yu Jia arrived, Yu Rui had just broken up with her boyfriend, though no one else knew.
In the past, the Four Beauties were scattered across the ends of the earth and could only chat in messaging groups. Now, things are great: Di Liren has been promoted four times in ten years, starting from a village official to the district level, the city level, the provincial level, and finally the big city, with an official career so fortunate it was as if he had a rocket strapped to his backside. With her husband reassigned, the dutiful Yu Jia was finally able to follow her husband's lead, taking her child and soaring all the way up. This has culminated in the complete reunion of the Four Beauties, fulfilling a wonderful affair.
The sisters' gathering was held without any spouses attending.
Two of them didn't even have the shadow of a spouse: Yu Shuang has no intention of having one, staunchly single; Yu Rui has several scandal rumors, but none can be made public for the time being. Some she is unwilling to expose, while others are unwilling to be exposed alongside her.
Yu Meng does have a respectable family and married a prominent husband, but recently she has been at odds with her husband, Luan Chengyun. To outsiders, she is a wealthy lady living in a villa in a big city, and the photos in her social media moments are frequently shot on "her own lawn"—even though it is shared with the next-door neighbors. Still, being able to live in a villa in the metropolis puts her near the top among those who came out of Yuyingzi.
She is a role model for countless women and a "legend" on the lips of many younger generations. Just doing an internship was enough for her to land a desirable husband; she is a miniature version of Wendi Deng—and Wendi Deng didn't even possess her beauty.
Yu Rui envies her.
Yu Meng attended a traditional Chinese culture class for wealthy wives and managed to pluck a line from the Classic of Poetry to describe herself: "Her hands are like slender white reeds, her skin like congealed ointment, her neck like the larva of the longicorn beetle, her teeth like melon seeds; a cicada-like forehead and moth-eyebrows. Her clever smile is so charming, her beautiful eyes glancing brilliantly." She is quite satisfied with such gorgeous descriptions.
However, she is dissatisfied with her own marriage. Although Luan Chengyun has earned a bit of "small money," Yu Meng has always felt that she married him too hastily back then. Over the years, Old Luan has been running around outside, busy as if his backside were fitted with springs, and carelessly getting himself into plenty of "stories." He also has a dark history: he has dated eight or nine girlfriends, among whom one committed suicide for him and two had abortions for him. He is no good egg, and recently he still shows lingering signs of contact with two of them.
Yu Meng has long since grown disgusted with Luan Chengyun. Having finally managed to endure until both of their sons were sent abroad to study, she feels this marriage has reached a turning point. In the past, she kept her bowstring drawn without firing; now, the arrow is on the string and must be released.
Coming out to see Jia, Shuang, and Rui was also a way for her to catch a breath of fresh air. This kind of family life is truly suffocating for her, especially since Luan Chengyun once "rewarded her with a slap." That was domestic violence! What could possibly be more serious than that?
Yu Meng feels that not calling the police to have him arrested is already showing consideration for all these years of husband-and-wife affection.